Queen's Ba-tin

My day began with a headache so I spent the morning in bed on drugs napping.  This used to happen far more often, but thankfully my debilitating headaches have become less frequent in the last couple years.  After the meds kicked in and I had a nap I was able to function again which is a fortunate thing because what a day it turned out to be.  The Queen’s Baton (pronounced bah-tin) was in town.  For those who don’t know it’s the equivalent of the Olympic torch for the Commonwealth Games and carries a message from the Queen inside that will be read at the start of the games.  It does a tour of 70 countries leading up to the Commonwealth Games which will be held sometime in 2014 in Glasgow, Scotland.  I was standing in the rain waiting to be picked up to join the festivities when a convoy of about 20 cars drove by one of which pulled over for me to get into (thank you Monica).  Then we were off down the road to Medina which is about an hour away for a big celebration for the bah-tin.  Along the road were villagers cheering and waving as we drove by many of whom were dressed up in bilas (bilas means beautiful in Pigin and is plants and flowers arranged to make something beautiful).  Not only did people “dress up” for the occasion, but they also decorated the side of the road and even the middle of the road.  They cut down plants and organized them in a line in the center of the road so when cars drove by they scattered giving the road a “scattered flower petals look”.  It was an incredible sight to see so many people standing on the side of the road all decked out in traditional garb and bilas cheering on the convoy in the pouring rain.

The convoy

The road bilas

I love how excited the kid in the blue shirt is.

I love the double fist pump from the kid in the middle

Villagers saw the convoy driving by and came
running to the road to wave

When we arrived in Medina there were people everywhere.  It was a rushed event because the baton had a schedule of places to go and people to carry it and could not divert from said agenda.  We spent about 20 minutes there and it was incredible.  It was one of those moments when your life plays out like a movie.  Something amazing is happening complete with your own personal soundtrack.  I was watching the dancing and singing with the background music of “And the source was your laughter threw me off the wall used your face is a mascot I yie yie” from Kishi Bashi’s “It All Began With A Burst” thinking “wow, this is actually my life.”  No idea why Kishi Bashi was playing in my head but if my life was a movie that song would have played in that moment.  Also, if you don’t know who Kishi Bashi is (which is everyone with the exception of maybe 2 people reading this) you should watch a YouTube video of him ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBonKZGUlNE ).  He writes all the music on his violin and uses different peddles to distort the sound then records layers and sings creating songs.  One of the most legit live shows I’ve ever seen!  Absolutely mind blowing!  Back to the Queen’s Baton celebration… there were tons of people around.  Some were grouped together singing while others were standing in a line next to signs of all the Common Wealth countries and others were putting on traditional performances.  At one point I paused my photo taking session and looked around to take it all in (“I yie yie”).  It was one of those moments you can’t put into words.  For some reason I became really emotional.  This celebration wasn’t for me.  I had nothing to do with it other than being a spectator, but the energy was electric.  To see so many people come out and all the time and effort that went into a brief production was moving and brought me to tears.

Arriving in Medina

These kids were awesome

And these kids were adorable

There were signs of all the Commonwealth countries posted around

This kid's shirt has a US flag, PNG flag
and Australian flag... random but awesome

I got some good shots (or so I think).  I also got in the way of other photographers and filmographers which later I found out are doing a documentary for BBC on the tour of the baton.  During a conversation with one of the filmographers, Raeph (pronounced like it’s spelled ray-f… how cool is that name?) I apologized for getting in his shots because I know I made it in a lot of them even though I was trying really hard not to.  He chuckled and said when he’s editing he’ll make sure I make it in the shot.  Our conversation was just friendly banter, but how cool would that be if I ended up in a BBC documentary!?  Check that off the list of Things To Do Before I Can Die (yes, this list exists and yes, I refuse to die until I’ve done it all).  I always thought I’d end up a scholar commenting on a documentary and not just a person in the background, but hey, it’s a start.  Also, I was wearing a recently made pair of skousers (skirt trousers combo that I’ve made multiple pairs of recently … there will be a blog about that in the near future) so all will see the gloriousness of my creation.

PNG country flag above the New Ireland
Province flag

Sometimes I think I work for Nat Geo as a
photographer... this was one of those shots.

So, after my “wow” moment we jumped in the car and as the convoy was about to head out the British High Commissioner (not entirely sure what that is but she’s a super important person) slipped while getting into the car and sliced her shin open.   We’re talking about a proper 6-inch gash straight to the bone not some little cut.  She was loaded into an ambulance and sent back to Kavieng.  Because I was with Monica and she works for the government this meant our tour with the baton was over and we were also off down the road following the ambulance.  As the baton made it’s way back to Kavieng we spent the afternoon at the hospital.  Though I was bummed I didn’t get to follow the baton I didn’t mind being at the hospital and helping out where I could.  I spent a good portion of the afternoon running errands around town getting phone chargers and pillows and chauffeuring people from the hospital to places.  These were all things someone needed to do but everyone else was busy trying to organize everything for the High Commissioner. 

The British high Commissioner is on the left

Eventually the High Commissioner was settled back in her hotel and we went back to following the baton to it’s last stop which was Nusa Island (a 3 minute boat ride from Kavieng across a channel).  There I got lots more photos of singing groups and people with the baton.  Then it was back off to Kavieng to do a couple more errands while people were tied up and one of those errands happened to be presenting the British High Commissioner with a carving on behalf of the Governor.  This was all very informal considering it was me giving her this gift while she was laid up in bed in her hotel room.  That was still pretty cool.  Then it was back to Nusa after that where I was offered a chance to hold the baton.  I GOT TO HOLD THE QUEEN’S BATON!  How freaking cool is that?!?!  Think about how cool it would be to hold the Olympic torch… it’s like a step below that.  And the woman in charge of everything was nice enough to take out the baton after it’d been put away to humor me and let me get a photo of Bongo holding the baton (that was for you Papa and Uncle Charlie).

Off to Nusa in a canoe

This kid looks too cool for school

The baton was passed around to ensure everyone had a chance
to at least touch it

The glowing thing with the red strip is the
message form the queen

Bongo and the baton

After all the hoopalah was finished we headed home and as I went to bed I reflected on the very hectic and unexpected day and had one final “wow, this is really my life” moment before slipping off to sleep.

About a week after the Queen's Baton Relay
I received this letter in the mail from the British
High Commissioner saying thanks for helping...
I think that's pretty cool

P.S. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Food For Thought... Literally

For the last few weeks I’ve been doing a lot of shopping at the market.  Here you have the choice of two markets (one is more so a morning market and the other an afternoon/evening market) and the grocery store.  The markets have all the fresh produce and the fish while the shops have all the packaged and processed goods along with the meat.  So you’re only option for produce is the outdoor market.  Since I’ve been shopping more we’ve been cooking more and it has been wonderful!

Shopping in the markets is lovely.  In Vegas I always said I wanted to go to a farmers market and sometimes even planned to, but it never happened.  I was either working or too tired from working to make my way down the street (literally like ¼ mile) to the market on Saturday mornings.  In my defense I worked a lot of Saturday mornings at 5:30 or 6:30 in the morning.  But the point is I never made it there regardless of the excuse.

I took a course in Nutritional Anthropology a few years ago and it was hands down my favorite college class (and that’s saying something considering I did 8 years of college full time and had enough credits for two BA degrees).  One thing I noted during our discussions, lectures, and readings is the disconnect we now have with what we eat.  Our food is grown, which we don’t see… harvested, which we don’t see… transported, which we don’t see… and then set up in a grocery store to be displayed in a fashion that makes it look attractive enticing us to buy it.  All the tomatoes that aren’t perfectly round don’t make it to the store shelves.  The lemons that aren’t that perfect lemon shape are never seen.  Apples that aren’t approximately the same size as all the other apples next to it never make it on the truck.  It’s amazing that we live in this fantasy land when it comes to what we consume that everything must look exactly the same and if not then it doesn't make the cut.

I had no idea that all lemons didn’t develop into a perfect lemon shape until my early 20’s when I helped pick lemons from a tree belonging to my friend’s mother (thank you Erin and Linda for that lesson).  The different shapes and sizes amazed me.  Why is it that stores only carry one lemon that’s been cloned hundreds of times?  Where’s the variety? 

And meat is a whole other issue.  I was a vegetarian for almost a decade for a number of reasons the main one being that my mom is a colon cancer survivor and meat builds up inside you colon, which can contribute to colon cancer.  Individuals who are vegetarians have lower rates of colon cancer.  A second reason was supposedly for health benefits, though, I was 14 when I started and considered fish sticks and Taco Bell bean burritos to be a sufficient sources of protein.  A third reason was animal treatment.  I don’t think eating meat is a bad thing (and now regularly consume meat), but we need to seriously revamp our meat industry.  It’s disgusting.  But that’s another tangent for another time.

Animals and their treatment and their lives are so far off our radar when we walk into the super market and purchase the packaged part of whatever animal we intend to consume.  We’re all guilty of it myself included.  I check to make sure it says preservatives and hormone free and then throw it in the cart.  The first time I ever considered the slaughtering of animals was in the 8^th grade.  My dad went hunting and made jerky with the meat. (My dad’s jerky is pretty amazing and I’m not even gonna lie, I cheated on my vegetarian diet a couple times to snack on his jerky… yes, it’s that good.)  I brought some of this jerky to school and shared it with a friend.  She thought it was delicious and asked where I got it.  When I responded that my dad had recently gone hunting and made it she spit it out and told me how disgusting that was.  This shocked me.  Where did she think her store bought jerky came from?  Or the chicken or steak or pork she ate every night for dinner?  The thought of where meat came from had never crossed her mind, or mine on a conscious level before that moment.  The irony of this situations is that that jerky from my dad didn’t have any hormones or preservatives or artificial flavoring or any of the other crap that packaged jerky has making it far healthier, but for her the idea of someone slaughtering an animal was appalling making it undesirable. We’re so far disconnected from our food that we don’t consider the animals’ treatment or the process it endures to go from birth to your dinner table.

Being in Papua New Guinea has helped me connect with food in a way I never have before.  I get to meet the women and men who grow my vegetables and fruits.  I’ve watched pigs get slaughtered for my dinner and though this makes me sad I’d much rather mourn the loss of that life when it happens than not even think twice about it as I pick up my package of bacon and put it in my cart while checking what’s left on the list to get.  I’ve learned so much about the different varieties of fruits and vegetables that grow on this planet.  Did you know that oranges can be green?  Neither did I until I came to PNG and was given the best tasting orange (that was green) of my life.  Mandarins can be green as well.  I learned this when I purchased limes at the market the other week then opened it to find a not so lime-y inside, but a sweet mandarin-y insides.  And don’t even get me started on all the different varieties of bananas that exist.  In the States we get one kind, Cavendish, and it’s tasteless compared to other bananas but ships well so that’s your one and only choice. (There’s a book titled “Banana” that gives the history of bananas and all the crap the US has put other countries through to secure our constant supply of bananas.  It’s a quick, informative, and interesting read if anyone cares to check it out).  There are green beans that are a deep rich purple until they’re cooked and that’s when they turn green.  And tomatoes that can be green and yellow in addition to red.  And peppers that are purple.

Food is an incredible thing.  Walking through the markets and selecting my food has opened my eyes to a whole new world.  It’s created an awareness of what I put in my body that I didn’t have before and a greater appreciation of cooking.  With that being said I’ll still consume more Oreo’s and chocolate than is healthy for any one person, but Oreo’s are a good American comfort food and chocolate is just plain scrumptious.  Next step in my food journey is starting my own small garden and seeing what I eat go from seedling to the dinner table. 

Welcome to the Kavieng Market.

Capsicums (peppers), tomatoes, ginger,
onions, avocados, and peanuts.

I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts.

Bananas, bananas, bananas.... mmmm my favorite!

Yummy greens

I never liked pineapple until I came here.

This was dinner one night...
well, a couple nights actually.

A baby Cus Cus for sale.  I would have
brought it home if I knew I could keep
it but I'm quite certain Monica would
have marched me down to the market
it and set me up with a sign that said
"FREE".

Mint and limes... if you're thinking Mojitos you would
be correct.  I was stoked to find both at the market on
the same day.  Score!

Dinner another night.  Nom Nom Nom